Estimation of natural water content distribution of peat ground by tensor decomposition and probability distribution considering non-negativity

Abstract

Peat is composed of organic and inorganic phases, and the mixing ratio of the two phases greatly affects the mechanical and physical properties of the soil. However, plant remains, a component of the organic phase, are diverse and cause wide variations in the natural water content ratio. In this study, we proposed a method for accurately estimating the two-dimensional spatial distribution of water content in peat soils from the limited natural water content data obtained by ground investigation. For the estimation, a tensor analysis based on CP (Canonical Polyadic) decomposition with a radial basis function and a generalized model with a non-negative probability density function as an error function were used. The results show that the proposed method reproduces the observed data well and can adequately represent the variation in the water content ratio of peat.